Journal Number Four
by Peaches Sparklepants
Summary: Dipper discovers Grunkle Ford's secret fourth journal. All this time there was FOUR of them! What kind of adventures await Dipper?
1. Chapter 1

Dipper sighed to himself as he sat down on his bed, holding his head in his hands. He was unimaginably bored which wasn't uncommon for him, but he never thought that he would be bored now. For nearly the entire summer, his goal had been to find the author of the journals, and now he had. He was psyched at first, his mind buzzing with so many questions to ask, and then there was the fact that the author turned out to be his great uncle. No, not Grunkle Stan, but Stan's own twin brother. So he should be excited, right? Nope. Why? Because both he and Mabel had been told to stay away from Grunkle Ford, who was staying in the basement. They hardly ever saw him since he was almost always down there. He only came out during meals or to use the bathroom. He finally got to meet the author, and this is what happens to him?

The bedroom door opened abruptly, hitting the wall with a loud thud. Startled, he fell off of the bed. Standing in the doorway was Mabel, who was just as energetic as always. She was wearing a pink sweater with a rainbow on it today, with seemed to reflect her good mood right now. "C'mon Dipper! What are you doing? You're missing breakfast!"

"I'm not hungry." Mabel hated seeing her brother upset like this, so she went and sat down next to him. "What's wrong Dipper", she asked even though she already knew what it was. "It's just… I spent pretty much the whole summer trying to figure out who the author is, and boom here he is, and now I'm not even allowed to talk to him."

"Awwww c'mon don't be like that", Mabel said nudging him, "looks like someone could use some… Mabel juice!"

"Um no thanks I'm good." Mabel giggled and punched him in the shoulder. "Well, more breakfast for me, then!" She got off of the bed and started to go downstairs. "Mabel, wait."

Dipper made his way down the stairs and sat down at the table in the kitchen. The air reeked of burned pancakes and the stove was almost completely covered in smoke. The pancakes actually didn't taste bad at all; they were just hard like rocks. Dipper was poking his pancake with a fork, trying to get it to go in. He kept pushing the fork harder and harder until SNAP! One of the prongs broke in two. Dipper groaned and set down the plastic fork. Everyone was at the table today, even Waddles who was sitting in Mabel's lap. Stan and Ford were sitting next to each other, and none of them had said a word since Dipper had gotten down there. Neither of them had a plate of food in front of them, just cups of black coffee. They just sat there silently sipping their coffee, occasionally glancing at the other for a brief moment. For a while all that could be heard was the sound of plastic forks stabbing pancakes and Waddles' occasional squeals. Finally, Stan stood up and spoke, breaking the silence. "I'm gonna step outside for a bit. Dipper! Mabel! Go and help set up shop. The Shack'll be opening soon." He grabbed the newspaper on the counter and went out the door.

The twins did what they were told and went into the gift shop. Soos and Wendy were already there, getting everything set up. Dipper had to admit that he was going to miss the Mystery Shack once the summer was over. Even though 90% of the merchandise there was fake, some of it was kind of interesting to look at, the rest of it being just plain weird or outright disgusting. There was a new item on display, and it was called "The Ratfish". It was a dead catfish whose head had been removed and replaced with the head of a large rat. Just looking at it made him want to throw up.

He decided to start sweeping the floor, since it was covered in dust and dirt. Sweeping probably wasn't the best choice, because he was sneezing every five minutes or so. Sweeping only sent the dust up into the air, where it could reach his nostrils. "Stupid dust…. Ah…. Ah… ACHOO!"

"Ha! You sneeze like a kitten!"

"Mabel don't…"

"Hey!" Dipper's eyes opened wide when he heard that voice. He looked in front of him, and saw that he had sneezed on Wendy. "Oh gosh I'm so sorry", he shouted, a light blush beginning to cover his face. Wendy laughed. "It's alright. Just cover your mouth next time." She handed him a tissue and walked off to finish stocking the shelves.

Dipper did a mental facepalm, now thoroughly embarrassed. He put the broom aside and sat down on the counter. Today seemed to be going as fast as if time was a snail or something. He groaned as the shop finally opened its doors and people began flooding in, most of them crowding around the Ratfish, only to be driven away by the smell. An old dirty catfish already smelled bad, but mix that with the smell of a dead rat, it was a miracle everyone could still smell at all. It wasn't long before the entire shack smelled like Ratfish, and people started to leave.

Holding his nose, Dipper went into the employees only area (aka the house) to try and get away from the smell. Still holding his nose, he sat down in a nearby chair. He couldn't get away from the smell, and that sucked. He eventually let go of his nose and leaned back in the chair, yawning. He didn't get very much sleep last night. The reason why was because his mind was overflowing with excitement about the fact that he finally got to meet the author, and all the things he wanted to ask him. He yawned again as the thought of sleep quickly caught up with him. Soon he had dozed off, snoring quietly.

BANG! He sat up with a start. What was that? It sounded like it had come from the gift shop. He got off of the chair, and went into the store, curious about what the bang was. Apparently, the cause of the bang was Mabel throwing the Ratfish into a nearby metal trashcan near the exit. He was happy it wasn't on display anymore, but throwing it away didn't get rid of the stench.

He glanced at the vending machine. He wondered what Ford was doing down there. There was no telling. He thought about asking Stan if he could go and visit Ford in the basement, but he had a pretty good idea about what his answer would be. He decided to go back up to he and his sister's bedroom to get some sleep, since he had only got like 2 hours of sleep last night, maybe less.

He collapsed onto his bed and climbed under the covers. He removed his hat, placed it on the table in between their beds, then curled up into a ball, falling into a deep sleep shortly afterwards.


	2. Chapter 2

There was a dull thud as Dipper rolled off of his bed, waking up in the process. He sat up, rubbing his head since it had hit the floor. He couldn't quite remember what his dream was about, but it was very weird, having something to do with elves and pizza for some reason. He collected his thoughts and stood up, his eyes adjusting to the darkness of the room after a few moments. How long had he been asleep for? Judging by how dark the room was, he had slept for the rest of the day. He knew he was tired, but he didn't think he was that tired! Sure enough, he heard the sound of Mabel's snores coming from the other bed. He put his hat back on, and quietly went down the stairs as not to wake anyone else in the house.

Being asleep for nearly the entire day had made it where he couldn't go back to sleep at all. He checked a clock hanging on a nearby wall, and it was a little bit before midnight. He sighed and went into the living room to maybe lounge about on the recliner for a bit and watch the television, but stopped in his tracks when he saw the chair was taken. Stan was slumped over in it, and upon closer inspection Dipper noticed that he was asleep, the newspaper from this morning in his lap. So much for that idea. It probably wasn't the best idea to stay in there in case Stan woke up, because Dipper would get in trouble for not being in bed.

He left the room and started to wander about silently. The house was eerily quiet. All that could be heard was creaking from within the walls and the pitter-patter of what was probably the footsteps of mice. He stopped when he realized something. He was starving! He didn't even eat breakfast because those pancakes were too hard to put the forks into, and after that he had slept all day meaning he had eaten nothing.

He slipped into the kitchen in search of something to nibble on. He opened the fridge, looking at what was in it. The things that caught his attention first was a plate containing the pancakes from earlier, a jug of Mabel Juice, and a box of pizza which wasn't there yesterday, meaning it had probably been ordered sometime while he was snoozing. It was cheese pizza and there were some pieces left, so he grabbed a couple and sat down in a nearby chair, eating them. They tasted somewhat bland, but hey, it was better than nothing.  
Once he had finished eating, a thought struck him. He could go and see Ford now, because Stan wasn't awake to stop him. He would feel bad for disobeying his uncle, but this was the author of the journals, so he felt like he kind of had to.

He crept into the gift shop area, making sure nobody else was in there. He went towards the vending machine, tripping a few times because it was dark in there. He pushed in the code with the buttons, and the vending machine opened up like a door on its hinges, revealing the same dark staircase leading to the hidden basement. He closed the vending machine over the doorway behind him and went down the stairs, being careful not to accidentally miss a step. Eventually he reached the bottom, and stepped into Ford's lab. "Gr-grunkle Ford...?", he called out, his voice echoing throughout the room. It was then when he saw the sleeping form of his other uncle slouched in a position strikingly similar Stan's in the chair in front of his desk. A pen was in his left hand, and an open book was sitting in front him on the desk. Could he possibly be adding onto one of the journals? He went over there, filled with anticipation. Indeed, pages were covered with runes and symbols of various kinds. The ink was still dark and somewhat shiny, meaning they had been written not that long ago. Eager, he shut the book to see which journal he was writing in. His breath hitched in his throat and he backed away suddenly. It wasn't journal one, two, or three. Written on the yellow cutout of Ford's hand, was the number four.


	3. Chapter 3

Could it be...? All this time there were _four?!_ It was a dream. It had to be! He gave himself a sharp pinch on the arm. "OW!" It wasn't a dream. Ford gave a grunt and started to move, meaning Dipper yelling ow had disturbed his sleep. Dipper quietly and quickly scampered out of there, up the stairs, and back into the gift shop, shutting the vending machine door behind him. That was a close one. He had nearly been caught. Would Ford notice that somebody had shut the journal he was writing in? Would he get in trouble? Only time would tell. One thing was for sure, which was that he shouldn't have been snooping around in what Ford was doing, which was apparently writing another journal. But why didn't Ford tell him that he had _another_ one?

His mind felt frazzled, his thoughts in complete turmoil, much like he was yesterday. He wasn't sure what to think. One part of him felt excited about his discovery, but another part of him felt guilty for being nosy. He didn't want to go back down there and tell Ford what he was doing, in fear of being in trouble. He decided to go back up to his room for the time being in order to sort out his thoughts, which seemed to be running around all over the place.

* * *

He sat down on his bed, and took a deep breath. He laid down on the bed which did no good, since he couldn't go back to sleep. However, he had decided that he was going to stay in there until everybody else was awake.

Each second seemed to be an hour, and each hour seemed to be an eternity. Almost the entire time he was waiting, he could feel his heart beating hard in his chest. It felt like his ribcage was going to burst at any moment! At last, the lights of dawn began streaming through the bedroom window, meaning it was finally morning.

Mabel woke up not long afterwards, seeing her brother who was now sitting up on his bed again. "Well good morning, sleepy head!"

"Morning."

Her hair was frazzled, and she was wearing her purple nightgown with a picture of a floppy disk on it. "So... anything happen while I was sleeping?"

She started laughing. "What happened?"

She went into this long, detailed yet hilarious explanation of earlier when Stan found out she threw away the Ratfish, got mad, then put it back on display. Then they had to do a bunch of stuff to it to get rid of the putrid stench since it was driving away patrons. Using the chemicals from the cabinet under the kitchen sink made it worse, and running it through the washer didn't help either. They eventually covered it in three layers of shrink wrap, then dunked it in a bucket of dumped out fabric softener.

Dipper chuckled at the mental image. He wished he had been awake to see all that.

His laughter was later interrupted by the scent of burnt pancakes and the sound of Stan's coughs and shouts as he attempted to put out the fire.

"KIDS! Breakfast is ready!"

* * *

Ford was absent from the table this morning. Stan didn't seem too concerned about that. In fact, he seemed a bit more cheerful then he usually is in mornings.

Dipper paid no attention to the plate of pancakes in front of him, instead he was reading from the third journal. Mabel didn't pay attention to her food either. Instead, she was drawing a picture of Stan and Ford holding hands while surrounded by hearts. The funny part about the picture, was that Stan looked angry. Waddles was sitting down in Mabel's lap, and it wasn't long before he jumped onto the table, and ran away with a pancake in his mouth. Stan went chasing after him with a broom, since Waddles jumping on there had caused Stan's coffee to spill on him. And of course there went Mabel too, trying to catch Waddles before Stan turned him into a pork roast.

There was the faint sound of the vending machine "door" opening in the gift shop, and Ford making his way towards the kitchen for breakfast. Dipper felt his blood run cold. Was he going to get in trouble? Was Ford going to be angry? He crossed his fingers with both hands while biting his bottom lip as the footsteps grew louder.

Finally, Ford stepped into the room. He smelled the air, and held his nose. "So Stanley decided to cook again I see..."


	4. Chapter 4

"O-oh m-morning Great Grunkle Ford!"

"Morning Dipper", Ford said taking a seat. "I know I'm sleepy, but did I just see Stanley chasing Mabel's pig like a madman threatening to turn him into tomorrow's lunch?"

"Yeah. Yeah you did..." Did Ford know about what Dipper had been doing? He still had his fingers crossed underneath the table. "Sleepy? Not sleep much?"

"No. Was up all night working. I'm a very busy man, Dipper." He waited for Ford to ask about the journal, but he said nothing for at least three minutes. "Why are you staring at me? Is something the matter?" Nope seemed like he didn't. Dipper was in the clear.

Ford looked down disdainfully at the table. "Ah... Stanley's famous pancakes... they're part of the reason Dad never let him make breakfast." He laughed. "He just needs to learn not to leave 'em on the pan for so long. He calls them his "Stancakes." They're as if stones and pancakes could reproduce."

"Hey I heard that", Stan shouted from the next room over. By now both of them were laughing. "Well, they're better than nothing Great Uncle Ford."

"Please... just call me Ford", he replied smiling.

"O-of course... Ford! Hey."

"Yes Dipper?" Dipper pulled out a notepad and pencil from a pocket inside his vest. "Mind if I ask you some questions about Gravity Falls", he said filled with anticipation.

Ford opened his mouth to answer, but then Dipper heard the voice of his other great uncle behind him. "Dipper", he said panting from the exhaustion of running, "come on let's go set up shop."

"C-coming Grunkle Stan!" He gave one last look at Ford before heading off to help help open the gift shop.

* * *

Aaaaand... the Ratfish was up on display again. Luckily, it seemed like Stan and Mabel's efforts to ease the smell worked quite a bit, though the smell still lingered somewhat. Dipper had been put in charge of dusting, and Mabel had been told to put an extra zero on the price tags of all the knick-knacks.

There was a ringing sound as the door opened, and in came Soos and Wendy to start their shifts. Dipper attempted to say hi to them, but some of the dust flew up his nostrils.

"Oh hi Wen- ah... ah... ACHOO!"

"Ha you sneezed like a kitten!" That time it had been Soos that said that. Well, now he was embarrassed in front of Wendy. Again. He looked down at the floor and rubbed the back of his head as his face began to heat up.

This time it was Soos doing the sweeping, and Wendy just did her usual thing- sitting on the counter and reading a magazine. As soon as Dipper was done dusting, he went to her. "H-hey Wendy!" She looked up from her magazine.

"Oh hey Dipper! What's up?" He shrugged.

"Not a lot." That was a lie, as he wasn't sure if he should talk about his discovery in front of Stan.

A few minutes later, the shack was open for business and Stan went outside to give a tour to unsuspecting, easily fooled tourists. Seeing he was gone, Wendy spoke up. "So what's been up with Mr. Pines? He seems... grouchier than usual. Do you know what's going on?"

This was his chance! He made sure Mabel and Soos weren't listening, thankfully they weren't since they were busy seeing if they could get the vending machine to spit out all the snacks at once. He leaned towards her and said whispered: "You aren't gonna believe this, but last night I went to go see Great Uncle Ford. But he was sleeping, so at first I thought I should go. But then I saw he had been as writing in one of the journals, and it wasn't one of the three! Turns out there are four of them!"

"What? No way!"

"And Ford is the author of the journals, and he's Stan's brother and-" He had began to ramble from excitement.

"Whoa calm down Dipper. I know. Soos told me all about it a few nights ago over the phone... he kept me up until two in the morning." She laughed. "Hey what was that about Ford", Mabel said turning around. Her words were muffled from her mouth being full of candy. "I heard my name too", Soos said after her, his mouth being filled with candy as well. Dipper sighed. "Can you guys keep a secret?"

"Yeah", Mabel said eagerly. "Your secret's safe with me, dude." It was kind of obvious who said that line. Dipper than proceeded to tell the pair what he had told Wendy. Mabel's eyes went huge. "Wow!"

"Whoa dude", Soos cut in, "you were snooping in what Stanford was up to while he was asleep? Not cool dude."

"Guys... I know I shouldn't have been sticking my nose into his business, but I just HAD to look, you know? Like, just imagine what could be in that journal! It could answer all my questions about Gravity Falls!"

"That's great Dipper", said Mabel, "But I think you ought to tell Grunkle Ford that you were being nosy and say sorry."

"Yeah... I suppose you're right." He did feel pretty darn guilty about that. He trudged into the house, and slowly entered the kitchen. Yep. Ford was still in there. "G-great Uncle F- Uh I mean... Ford?"


	5. Chapter 5

"Yes Dipper?"

"Well", Dipper said twiddling his thumbs, "I might've... been looking around last night, and... you know, Stan said to not be around you, but I just HAD to talk with you, because you're the person I've been looking for all summer! Since Stan was asleep last night, I kind of went down to see you... but you were asleep too."

Ford raised an eyebrow. "You snuck into my basement?"

"Yeah. And I saw you had been writing in one of the journals, so naturally I took a look to see which one it was. You didn't tell me you had four!"

Ford paused. "Dipper. I don't have four journals. You must have been up late and sleepy last night, so you might have mistaken the number to be four."

Wait... what? Did Ford just... _lie_ to him? He had been asleep the whole day before his awesome discovery, so that meant he couldn't have been seeing things from drowsiness. He was about to argue, but then he remembered he had originally come to apologize. "I just wanted to say sorry for being nosy and all... I could have at least knocked..."

Ford's face softened. "It's alright, Dipper. But next time I would just ask. Also, right now it's too dangerous down there for a child. You know, dangerous machines... deadly specimens that might escape... I think you get the picture." Dipper nodded. He understood, though he would love to see what Ford did down there. "I understand." Ford nodded. "Good. I'm going to head back down and do some work. Call me dinner!"

He rose from the table, and made his way back to the basement.

Well, that was over with. Still... had Ford been lying to him? That would be odd, since Ford didn't seem like one for telling fibs. So, _had_ Dipper mistaken the number to be four? He reached back into vest, this time pulling out the third journal. He flipped through it, browsing all of his additions to it. As he did that, memories of everything that had happened during that summer came flooding back to him. To Dipper, this journal almost had the same function as Mabel's scrapbook. He could see pictures of some of the things he and Mabel had faced in the past, and that really made him stop and think about it. If he hadn't found that journal, it was likely that none of this would have ever happened!

But despite all that, he still had so many questions and theories! He knew that curiosity killed the cat, but he felt like he just HAD to know. So, that was the reason he made a plan to go back down there that night, to get answers. He wasn't going to pester Ford about the journal, since he would probably just keep denying that he had four. Dipper was _certain_ he had seen the number four. This was his plan- wait for everybody else to fall asleep, go to the basement, quickly see if there really were four journals, then get out before he got caught. Simple. But there was one flaw. He would he know if Ford was still awake down there? If he was, then there was a pretty good chance Dipper wouldn't get away with it.

* * *

Dipper stepped back into the gift shop. "Hey Dipper", Mabel said as she finished eating her handful of candy.

"He said that he doesn't have four, and that I could have mistaken the number to be four because I might have been really sleepy." Mabel's face fell. "Well that stinks. Oh- Did ya say sorry?"

"Yeah. He seemed to take it pretty okay."

Right after he said that, in came Stan and the group of tourists, Stan leading them over to the Ratfish. "Behold! One of the rarest creatures known to man! The Ratfish!"

"Ooooh", said everyone in the crowd all at once while taking pictures.

"And", Stan added, "legend says that if you throw your money at it, it'll give you good luck!" And there went the naive people mindlessly tossing their pocket money at the horrible thing. Dipper just rolled his eyes and went up into the house.


	6. Chapter 6

Now that he had apologized to Ford and got it off of his chest that he had seen a fourth journal, he felt quite a bit better. But of course his mind was still overflowing with curiosity. So... it actually _was_ possible that he had mistaken the number to be four. But he wanted to know for sure, so he was convinced to attempt his plan later that night.

It was still morning, so he still had a while before that. That was probably a good thing, since in the meantime he could plan ahead for it to reduce the chances of being caught, and also get some relaxation time.

* * *

He headed into the living room, plopped down on Stan's yellow recliner, and grabbed the remote that had been resting on the left arm. He switched on the television and leaned back into the chair. He could see why Stan liked it so much. It was not too firm or soft, and was at a good angle where you could clearly see the tv screen.

He flipped through the channels one by one to see if there was something worth watching on. He did manage to find something, and it turned out to be a show about ghosts, on whether they really existed or not. He chuckled as the show's hosts discussed the matter, since he knew very well that ghosts were real.

The show proved to be very interesting. Apparently it was called _Ghosts: Fact or Fiction?_ Wow what an original name. But still, it went through all the evidence of ghost activity, and discussed the history of poltergeist activity. It was certainly better that that one show called _Ghost Harassers,_ where the crew set up fake ghost cases and acted like they were getting rid of the nonexistent ghosts.

He had gotten so absorbed in the show, that he didn't notice Stan standing next to the chair about fifteen minutes later. "Hey kid." Startled, Dipper came very close to falling off. "Oh, h-hey Grunkle Stan! Shouldn't you be out there in the shop?"

"Eh I'm just takin' a quick breather... running a shop can really take a lot outta ya. So I'm gonna need my chair for a bit."

"Oh. Alright..." He rose from the recliner, immediately missing its coziness. He sat down on the floor as Stan took his place in the chair. "Hehe thanks for keeping it warm for me, kid." Well, although he wasn't in the chair anymore, he could still watch the show. Click! Or not. Stan had changed the channel. "Gr-Grunkle Stan! I was watching that!"

"Hey. I'm not sittin' down and watchin' that nerdy show." He kept flipping through the channels until he got to the one that was airing one of his favorite shows- _Cash Wheel._ "Yeah now we're talkin'!" He leaned forwards eagerly as one of the contestants was about to solve the word puzzle. "Come on! The word is Dog! DOG! How are they not getting it?!"

* * *

Dipper stood up and left the room as Stan continued his rant. He thought about what Wendy had said. True, Stan _was_ more irritable than normal lately. But why? Was it about Ford? He couldn't blame Stan for being upset, considering all the work he put in all those years to bring back him back, and didn't even get so much as an thank you. Still, it wasn't good to hold grudges, especially ones against family.

He kind of wished he could find a way to mend Stan and Ford's relationship, but of course he didn't know how. He had concluded that it would be best to leave the matter alone, and hope that they would eventually sort the issue out themselves.

He decided to head up to he and Mabel's bedroom to maybe make a few additions to Journal 3.

* * *

He got up there, and Mabel was in the room as well. She was sitting in the middle of the floor, apparently knitting another sweater. It was a light shade of purple with a large, metallic star on the chest area. "Hey." She looked up at him. "Hey!" Dipper was looking down at the floor, frowning. Obviously noticing this, Mabel said "Hey what's the matter now?"

"Mabel... you know how we sometimes fight, and are mad at each other for a while", he said in a low voice.

"Yeah why", she asked with a concerned tone. "Wait a minute- is this about Stan and Ford?"

"Yeah..."

"Aw come on, we already said we wouldn't get... y'know, stupid like that..."

"It's not just that... I don't like seeing it. I want to help, and I'm worried we'll turn out like that." Mabel began to pout. "Don't be like that..." All of a sudden, her face lit up. "I got it!"

"M-mabel-" Before he could finish, she had darted out the door and down the stairs, leaving behind the unfinished sweater.


	7. Chapter 7

"Mabel!" He chased after his suddenly excited sister. "Mabel what are you doing?" She turned to him and opened her mouth, but closed it when she saw that Stan was nearby. She grabbed his hand, and ran to a closet somewhere in the house. Once they were inside, she shut the door so Stan wouldn't hear what she had to say. "I got an idea!"

"Oh no..."

"No this one's good! Stan and Ford are mad at each other, right?"

"Uh yeah."

"Well, what if... we could make it all better!"

"Make it better? How?"

"I'm gonna throw a pool party at the local swimming pool, and send those two invitations! And, they won't know the other has been invited!"

"How is that going to help?"

"It just will! I can feel it! I'll have them paired together during games and stuff!"

"I don't think this is a good idea."

"Why not?"

"Remember what happened the last time we invited Grunkle Stan to a pool party?"

"Oh yeah. We were banned from the pool for weeks... but I'm sure it's okay now! C'mon Dipper, you gotta help!"

"Help with what?"

"Help set up the party, silly! You can hand out invitations, and we'll take care of the rest!"

"We?"

"Yeah! Me, Candy, and Grenda! Well that is if they're willing to help... but I'm sure they will be! I'll also see if I can recruit Soos and Wendy. I'll make the invitations, you go around town and hand them out, and we'll take care of everything else! Sound like a plan?"

"Mabel I-" He paused. He already had something planned for himself that night- the plan to confirm his sightings of a fourth journal. Would Mabel's party get in the way of that? "Mabel, when's the party going to be and when's it going to end?"

"It'll take a while to get everything set up, so I was thinking it could start at seven tonight and end at ten!" Dipper sighed with relief, as that meant he would still have time after the party. "Mabel. This sounds great, but there's a lot more you gotta do... like, you have to get permission from the owners of the pool to reserve it for a party. And where are you going to get the party supplies?"

"Up in our room on my side, I have some balloons, and I can make the streamers with tape and colored paper! I don't need to worry about getting food, because the guests can just get things from the pool's snack bar!"

"The pool has a snack bar...?"

"Yep!"

"There is one more flaw in your plan..."

"What?"

"If you throw a pool party, we're gonna have to see Stan in a bathing suit..."

After that they both erupted in laughter. "Anyhow... I'll go and recruit the party-planning staff, get permission from the pool owner, and then I'll make the invitations! We just gotta keep it a secret from Stan and Ford that they're both being invited, or it'll spoil the surprise!" With that, Mabel dashed out of the closet to begin her work.

Well, that day had just gotten interesting.


	8. Chapter 8

Mabel was about to run out the front door of the house when she remembered that Soos and Wendy were closer, so she could recruit them first. She went into the gift shop and sure enough there they were. Soos was sweeping, and Wendy was slouched behind the counter with her feet up on it as usual. "Hey guys!" Wendy looked up and waved hi, and Soos said "Oh hey there Mabel!"

Mabel went to the counter, and grabbed two sticky notes from a sticky note pad next to the cash register. She pulled out a pen, and wrote this on each sticky note: Planning a pool party. You have been recruited on the party planning staff. Don't let Stan and Ford find out that the other is invited 'cause both of them are gonna be invited! Meet me at my room at six PM. Underneath the text was a smiley face. She handed them the sticky notes and bolted out of the door. "Hm? Hey cool." Wendy said as she stuffed the note into the pocket on her flannel shirt. At first Soos's face lit up for a moment, but then it fell. "I-I'm not exactly comfortable with keeping secrets from Mr. Pines dude..."

"Aw relax! It'll be fine. Keeping this hidden from Stan and Ford will be a cinch!"

"Okay, if you say so..."

* * *

Mabel was skipping with joy as she went down the road. She was almost to Grenda's house, and she was filled with anticipation about the party. She was certain Candy would be there too, since the pair hung out a lot at this time.

She stepped up onto the porch, and rang the doorbell. The door opened, and standing on the other side was Grenda. Makeup was haphazardly smeared all over her face, and her hair was done up in hair curlers. Looks like she and Candy were having a makeover.

"Hey Grenda!"

"Oh hey Mabel", Grenda said in that deep voice of hers.

"Well looks like someone's been busy", Mabel said looking at Grenda's makeup and hair.

"Yeah! Candy's making me look like a movie star! Wanna join?"

"Heck yeah", Mabel shouted before she remembered what she had come there for. "So where's Candy?"

"She's up in my room with the makeup. Come on, let's go and make you look like a movie star too!"

"That sounds great Grenda, but actually there's something I need to talk to you and Candy about."

"Oh. Okay!" Grenda took Mabel by the hand and led her up to her bedroom.

* * *

Candy was sitting in the middle of the floor, also covered in makeup and wearing hair curlers. "Welcome back Grenda! This time we will be adding in a little bit of foundation. Oh, hello Mabel!"

"Hi Candy! I've got something really important to tell you guys!"

"Important", said Candy, "ooh do tell."

After a few minutes of Mabel explaining her plan, Grenda exclaimed "You're planning an awesome pool party, and you want us to help? Hot Dog!"

"You guys in?" They both excitedly nodded in unison.

"Hooray! This is gonna be great! I've already recruited Soos and Wendy, so that's four extra sets of hands! Or is it two 'cause those two have four hands all together...? " She laughed. "Wait, with you two it is four extra sets... oh my gosh." She laughed more. "Whoops! So, be sure to drop by at six tonight, okay?"

"Okay", they both said. Mabel was about to leave when Grenda spoke up. "Mabel!" Mabel turned around. "Yeah?"

"You still want that makeover right?"

"Oh yeah! I do!"

* * *

Dipper was sitting at the dining room table, with his head in his hands. What was taking Mabel so long? He figured that she would have been back by now. As if on cue, he heard the front door open. He dashed to its location, and jumped backwards, falling on his butt. "M-mabel...?!" Mabel's face was very sloppily covered with makeup, and all of her hair was done up in extremely exaggerated curls. At first he didn't even recognize his sister. "Mabel what the heck? What happened to you?!"

"Oh this? Candy and Grenda gave me a makeover!" Dipper rolled his eyes. Typical for his sister to be late because she got caught up in something else. "Did you at least recruit them?"

"Yep! They're with us! Now that I've got a party-planning crew, time to make some invitations! The crew should be here at six!"

"Wait... six?! You said it was going to start at seven! That would give us only an hour to set up the party!"

Mabel's face fell. "Oh... guess I didn't think of that. But we'll figure something out!"

The twins walked into the living room, and there sat Stan in his yellow recliner, drinking out of a can of Pitt Cola. The moment he saw Mabel, he just so happened to be taking a sip. Pitt Cola went all over his lap. "Holy sweet mother of poppycock! That looks as if Hell and a clown had a baby!"

A few awkward moments passed, then all three of them burst into laughter. Stan put his hand up, bringing the twins into silence. "Seriously though, Mabel. Go up to the bathroom and wash off your face. You're gonna get acne if you don't get all that stuff off later."

"Okay Grunkle Stan."

Mabel was off to the bathroom to wash, then she would make the invitations.


End file.
